November, 1913 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



153 



Conducted by Ellen Eddy Shaw 



Indoor Planting 



AT THE beginning of the school year teachers 

 and pupils often ask this question: "Is it 

 possible to have something blossoming in our 

 class rooms or at home every month in the year? " 



Of course it is, if one plans ahead and takes into 

 consideration existing conditions. It is possible 

 always to have something growing in a class room all 

 the year round. 



All bulbs should be planted and stored away 

 by the end of October or the first of November. 

 Usually, these are not expected to produce bloom 

 before January or February. What is the next 

 step toward working out the plan of continuous 

 plant growth and bloom? 



A very pretty window box for the school room, 

 and one which will withstand changes in temper- 

 ature, especially drops in temperature, is a box 

 of evergreens. For such a box get young ever- 

 green trees from eight inches to one foot in height. 

 These trees may be white cedars, junipers or 

 young pines. It is very easy to fill this box if 

 one lives in the country. A city dweller may 

 have them shipped in or will have to take a jour- 

 ney to the countryside for them. Take up as 

 much earth as possible with the little trees, gather 

 some large pieces of moss and if possible cut some 

 bark from an old rotted tree. Cover the sides of 

 the plain wooden window box with the bark and 

 so get a rustic effect. Fill the bottom of the box 

 with from one to two inches of drainage material 

 and some pieces of charcoal. Fill in wood soil 

 and place in the little trees. Spread the roots 

 out carefully so that they are not cramped. If 

 a rootlet is bruised at all cut off the injured part, 

 making a good clean cut. Now pack the soil 

 carefully about the roots and fill the box right up 

 to within one inch of the top with soil. If the 

 black woods soil is not sufficient in quanity to fill 

 the entire box, be sure to use it about the roots of 

 the trees. And then fill in with poorer soil, for 

 the roots are the feeding part of the plant, and the 

 best food should be close to them. Water thor- 

 oughly after planting and place the moss over the 

 surface of the soil. The moss acts like the forest 

 carpet, holding in moisture and preventing sur- 

 face evaporation. I have known boxes like this 

 to last for years in a class room. Each summer 

 the box should be set in a shaded spot in the open air 

 to rest. In the South such a box could be used 

 as an out-door window box all the year. 



Similar little evergreen trees potted up separ- 

 ately in little rustic boxes make charming Christ- 

 mas gifts for the small boys and girls to take home 

 to their parents. These little boxes can be made 

 in the shop as a part of the manual training work. 



Start Chinese lilies and paper white narcissus 

 in water now for Christmas bloom. This settles 

 the question of what one can have blossoming in 

 December. 



There are certain plants which are possible to 

 raise from seed indoors. These may be made to 

 bloom under ordinary class room conditions and, 

 of course, will do far better at home. These are 

 dwarf French marigolds, scabiosa, stock, petunia, 

 candytuft, sweet alyssum, and cornflower. 



They may be raised in small pots or flats. It 

 is well to start the seeds in flats and later trans- 

 plant the strongest of the seedlings into small 

 pots. Thus the children get their lessons of 

 planting and transplanting in the natural order 

 of development. 



In starting young plants it is better to have a 

 soil not too rich. If one third the soil be sand 

 the rapidity of growth will be helped. Young 

 geraniums potted in a sandy soil grow faster and 

 bloom more freely. 



Fill the flats with this sandy soil and then shake 

 the box. In this way the soil settles sufficiently 

 for planting. Scatter the seeds over the surface 

 of the soil, and sprinkle a light coating of soil 

 over them. Screen the flats from too direct sun- 

 light at first. When you water, do not flood it 

 over the surface of the soil but sprinkle it on by 

 hand. 



Dwarf French marigolds are perhaps the most 

 satisfactory of all plants for children to raise from 



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Boys from elementary school after plants for their 

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Normal students at work in greenhouse. Washington. 

 D. C. raising plants for public school distribution 



seed. If the seeds are to be sown in individual 

 pots use 3-inch pots and place six seeds in each 

 pot. Transplant all but three of the seedlings 

 in each pot. French marigolds of the most 

 dwarfed variety, such as Brownie, grow from five 

 to seven inches high. The blossoms range in color 

 from yellow to deep orange, almost to brown. 

 They will bloom in from four to six weeks after 

 planting. They are bothered with no pests and 

 grow with ease. So they are well suited for use 

 with the young children. 



Scabiosa takes longer to come to bloom, the 

 time ranging from eight to ten weeks. It likes 

 sun, but is not particular about the soil. The 



blossom varies in color. The colors are white, 

 pink, crimson and the lavenders. 



Stock, the ten weeks variety, as the name implies, 

 takes ten weeks to bloom, although for class room 

 culture it is wise to allow for a longer time. One 

 may have'" stock in white, crimson and purple. 

 Make the soil sandy. This plant grows from one 

 to two feet high so it must be staked in the pot. 

 The stakes may be made in the manual training 

 shop. 



| Petunias are not so easy to raise from seed in 

 the class room as some of the other plants. Old 

 petunia plants brought in from gardens do won- 

 derfully well in sunny windows. The plants 

 raised from the seed indoors are slow to bloom, 

 taking at the shortest time ten weeks but more 

 often twelve or fourteen. It is best to buy a 

 named variety of petunia seed. The common 

 seed often produces flowers of startling and crude 

 colors. 



I Candytuft is a little better, perhaps, for pot 

 culture than sweet alyssum, since it grows bushier 

 and stockier. Buy the lowest growing varieties, 

 the height of which is about six inches. Three 

 plants in a little pot crowded rather closely to- 

 gether give the effect of a little shrub. Candy- 

 tuft may be had in white or reddish purple, while 

 sweet alyssum always has a white blossom. Either 

 one of these is satisfactory to use in work with 

 young children. 



Cornflower appeals strongly because of its 

 beautiful blossom, especially if one chooses the ex- 

 quisite blue. This flower can be raised in indi- 

 vidual pots, but it has the bad habit of spindling 

 in its growth. It also lags along slowly, acting 

 very reluctantly about blooming. Then, too, it is 

 likely to have lice. 



In looking over this list one can roughly plan 

 out a scheme for monthly bloom. 



Nasturtiums are regarded usually as favorites 

 but are not, after all, so easy to raise indoors. 

 Climbing varieties are easier to cultivate than 

 dwarf ones. They need sunny windows. And 

 they also need a great deal of root space. For 

 this reason the dwarf varieties do not thrive in 

 small pots. As they grow, they should be shifted 

 from pot to pot and staked up as well. One plant 

 should have at least a 6-inch pot for a permanent 

 home if it is to do at all well. 



Tuberous rooted begonias are excellent to use 

 in the children's work. Plant them in four or 

 five inch pots. Do not place the pots in direct 

 sunlight, but put them on shaded window sills 

 or tuck them behind other pots in sunny windows. 

 Begonias like shade. They like rich, light soil. 

 Woods soil lightened with sandy soil meets the re- 

 quirements. Put plenty of drainage in the pot. 

 People often complain because begonias have a bad 

 habit of shedding their leaves. This habit is but 

 a hint to the wise. For it means usually that the 

 plant has had either too much or too little water, 

 though, to be sure, when begonias have just been 

 taken indoors or their places changed they will 

 shed their leaves. 



If one has a greenhouse any of these plants men- 

 tioned can be raised in it. Of course, pot culture 



Park Hill boys in their own home garden where 

 practical work is done 



